Get that microwave away from your family!
February 6th, 2009
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And yet another thing to fear without good reason…
Aside from the other glaring errors in this video, I’d like to point out two common ones:
1. Microwave ovens and microwaves in general do not produce ionization. In fact, microwave radiation is a form of “Non-ionizing radiation.” It does not create any compounds that would not be created by any other method of cooking. The microwaves themselves don’t alter any chemicals, although the heat may cause some chemical changes. Nothing exotic or toxic is created by microwaving.
2. Microwaves don’t actually “cook from the inside out.” If you have ever put a large and dense item in a microwave, you’ll notice that the center does not always come out warm. The microwaves penetrate the food better than infrared radiation does, but they don’t have unlimited penetrating power. The reason microwaves can cook food so quickly is that they are able to penetrate more deeply into food than infrared radiation can. They heat the food by vibrating molecules, primarily water. When food is cooked through direct heating of the surface, either by convection or radiation, the heat only makes its way into the food through conduction and convection (In liquid foods).
Therefore, microwaving does not really cook the food from the inside out, it’s more accurate to say that it cooks the surface area and the subsurface of the food simultaneously.
Another interesting fact is that the frequency microwaves use is around two to two and a half gigahertz. This is something of a compromise between lower frequencies, which would largely pass through foods without imparting thermal energy to them as well, and higher frequencies, which would be more prone to leave cold areas in the centers of dense or large foods.
This entry was posted on Friday, February 6th, 2009 at 6:14 pm and is filed under Bad Science, Just LAME, Not Even Wrong, Obfuscation, Quackery, media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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February 6th, 2009 at 7:52 pm
Actually, I’ve read that “nuking” your food with a microwave is a good way to NOT lose nutrients, contrary to what “Dr.” Group says. I think the two best ways to keep your veggies nutrient rich (other than eating them raw, of course) is steaming and microwaving.
But why let facts stand in the way of silliness?
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February 6th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
The sad thing is…. I’m sure a few people are going to throw out the microwave after seeing this on YouTube. lol
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February 6th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
Ari said:
That has been my understanding as well. It does cause some reduction in nutrients, all cooking methods do cause some, but it’s very small and it’s smaller in microwaving than any other cooking method, except perhaps steaming. But considering that there are plenty of foods you wouldn’t want to eat raw anyway, microwaving is the theoretically healthiest way of doing it.
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February 6th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
This quack and fraud (chiropractor and ordained minister) also claims that: artificial turf is exposing users to toxic cancerous material, asserts that his detox foot pads work, but every other brand is useless, believes that the makers of vaccines have no respect for human life, sells a product to protect people from electromagnetic radiation from cell phones and of course thinks genetically modified foods are a health danger. In fact it would seen that this individual supports every last piece of pseudo-scientific medical nonsense that there is out there, and is ready to sell you something to alleviate the effects thereof.
In an earlier time he wouldn’t be the CEO of the Global Healing Center, but would have been running, Dr. Group’s Traveling Ministry and Medicine Show.
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February 6th, 2009 at 11:19 pm
I wish I knew what made these guys seem to be believable when they are spouting nonsense. Is it that Southern accent? When I lived in VA about ten years ago, Sunday morning TV was essentially all guys like this. I swear that one of them actually said that the earth was flat.
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February 6th, 2009 at 11:26 pm
More microwave fun:
http://www.mindfully.org/Food/Irradiate-Microwave-Effects-FoodMay96.htm
Of course this is nonsense as the Germans would have had access to the cavity magnetron, a very top British secret, which they did not have in 1941. Here’s the real history of the microwave oven:
http://www.gallawa.com/microtech/history.html
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February 6th, 2009 at 11:41 pm
J Carlton said:
What burns me up is that these idiots talk about how the big corporations and drug companies are all about money and will exploit you, make you sick, destroy the whole world in the name of money. People buy into this and never consider that these bastards are all lying through their teeth for money. “Oh don’t listen to the big corporations. They want money, and I’m not a big corporation so you can trust me. Now buy my **** for a few hundred” What the hell are the idiots of the world smoking? This jackass most definately has every kind of overpriced and worthless snakeoil product to sell.
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February 6th, 2009 at 11:54 pm
Ari said:
Yeah, I agree. I mean, stuff like the big organic chemicals in vegetables like vitamins, those break down over time anyway and cooking is always going to break them down a little, but not that much for microwaving and steaming. That’s actually what’s good about microwaving is that it’s gentle to the food and doesn’t do that. it doesn’t matter anyway for stuff like grains and meats anyway because the other nutrition is not effected.
I don’t know why they harp on this stupid issue anyway. This is the same thing with food irradiation. Who cares if the vitimins are reduced by 2%? Are you dying of scurvy or something???
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February 7th, 2009 at 12:00 am
Uh, I wonder if anyone has noted that microwaving versus ovens or stovetops is one of the most environmentally and energy friendly ways of cooking if you’re all about the Green lines. The microwave does not waste heat heating up the chamber or leaking heat like a burner or a regular oven.
I had to look up the numbers, but a microwave oven can use up to 1200 watts which is close to what a single stove burner uses and a full oven can be 3000 watts. A microwave, however, only takes a short time like a minute or two to heat most things or maybe a few minutes in some cases. So if microwaving something for five minutes on 1200 watts and the alternative is an oven or even a stove burner, the microwave is by far the least energy intensive./
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February 7th, 2009 at 1:33 am
I left this comment on youtube…
You’re not really a doctor are you? I thought doctors rely on the scientific method and actual science. You claim that microwave ovens are “radiation.” Don’t you realize that light is radiation. By that logic you should get lamps away from your family as soon as possible. Microwaves are non-ionizing radiation. Boom, your whole argument is stupid! By the way most honest Dr.’s only look at peer reviewed, proven research not people looking for press coverage.
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February 7th, 2009 at 10:40 am
Even if it was ionizing, it still wouldn’t make the food radoactive, so it’s wrong on an even bigger level.
Also ‘nutrients’ is a bit like ‘toxins’: yes nutrients exist, but as someone said above, there really is nothing most people are deficient in. Poor diet in the west generally means an excess of fat and sugar, not a lack of nutrients.
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February 7th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
Perhaps posting a chart of the electromagnetic spectrum with this would reinforce your point of how silly this is. From my basic understanding, waves on the “red” side of the spectrum are generally less harmful when under appropriate intensities. Waves on the “violet” side of the spectrum- ultraviolet, xrays, gamma rays – are generally more harmful per a given intense exposure, hence sunblock. Of course we are talking about food here, not human flesh, and microwaves do just as you say – bounce water molecules around, that’s all.
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February 7th, 2009 at 10:25 pm
I like the bottles of “medicine” on the counter behind him.
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February 8th, 2009 at 4:19 am
Jason Ribeiro said:
It’s all about intensity. I think you’re right that the longer waves carry less energy so those are less harmful per a given number of photons or whatever. But yea it’s taken completely out of context. I mean, a microwave heats stuff so it would be dangerous if you could turn it on with the door open and you stuck your head in it. That’s true with a pot of boiling water too though. You probably should keep your face out of any kind of device that is there to cook things. I mean I’m not an expert on the issue, but it just seems like a good idea.
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February 13th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
*guffaw* His “actual clinical research” is a paper from some guy at the Christian Law Institute. Yeah. I definitely think that counts as clinical research.
I also like his reference to the Soviet Union banning microwaves in the 70s. I don’t know if that’s true or not (the rest of his “evidence” is bull****, after all), but the USSR is also known for extensive research into extrasensory perception.
He is *sort of* right that you shouldn’t microwave baby formulas, but for completely the wrong reasons. He claims microwaves magically transform baby formula into poison. The real problem is that microwaving can lead to uneven heating, which can lead to pockets of dangerously hot formula, which could scald the baby. This is less likely to happen with the old fashioned method of a pan of hot water on the stove, but not because stoves are fundamentally different from microwaves. It’s because the hot water will distribute the heat more evenly. (This is also the reason why chefs use double-boilers and bain maries for making custards and certain kinds of pudding, which are very temperature sensitive.)
What I’m thinking is that we should lambast the guy for encouraging us to irradiate ourselves by watching his video. I mean, we’re talking about *radiation* here! Electromagnetic radiation! It’s spewing out of this guy’s video! He captured the most obvious electromagnetic radiation in his office, and then converted it into a video file which, when played back on a computer, WOULD DUPLICATE THE SAME RADIATION IN MY OFFICE!!!! The fiend!
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